Ranjith says adieu

by Jayampathy JAYASINGHE

The Director of the Police Public Relations, Senior Supdt of Police (SSP) Ranjith Gunesekera, has tendered his retirement papers after serving the department for 37 long years. He was an amiable person who went out of his way to help the media to get what they needed at the correct hour. He was there at a scene of a bomb blast, briefing the media when LTTE suicide cadres blew themselves up in the city of Colombo or elsewhere.

The high point of his career came when he was sent to Sudan on a special Peace Keeping Mission by the United Nations Mission. He was the overall Mission Commander of the Sri Lankan Contingent that reported for duty on 12th October 2007. He was posted to the Kadugli region for Peace Keeping work with Sudanese police personnel and men from the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement. The Kadugli regional conflict had claimed thousands of lives over the decades. The dispute bore resemblance to the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict.

He saw the bloody conflict in the Nuba Mountains where two tribal factions killed each other. The two tribes from Lagori and Tesse in the Kadugli Province fought a bloody battle over the ownership of Nuba Mountains. He initiated a dialogue with both factions and brought about a peaceful solution. The Police Commissioner to the UN Mission, Khartoum Sudan, Kai Vittrup presented a certificate of Commendation to SSP Gunesekera in recognition of his service.

After passing out as a Sub Inspector of Police, from the Police Training School he was posted to Mount Lavinia Police Station where he cut his teeth in police work. He was an enterprising officer who picked up the ropes sooner than the rest of his colleagues. A product of St. Thomas' College, Matale and St. Sylvester's College, Kandy. He was promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police in 1992 and Senior Superintendent of Police in 2005. He has several accolades to his credit including a Masters Degree from the Rajarata University.

He still mourns the death of his younger daughter, an air hostess in the ill-fated Lion Air Antonov plane that crashed after taking off from the Palaly airport on 29th September 1998 around 1.40 p.m. with 48 Tamil civilians and a crew of four Russians and three Sri Lankans. The plane was flying to Colombo when it disappeared from the radar screens after the pilot reported depressurization of the cabin.